The widespread commercial videocassette market has opened to the world and to libraries a grab bag of viewing choices. Library response to the feast has varied throughout the…
Abstract
The widespread commercial videocassette market has opened to the world and to libraries a grab bag of viewing choices. Library response to the feast has varied throughout the country, resulting in different emphases from collection to collection. One is the educational or cultural collection, intended not for recreational viewing but for specific training or general self‐development. Another is the esoteric collection of tapes generally produced for mass‐market consumption but not readily available through commercial outlets. This type of collection emhasizes film classics, classic television series, and how‐to‐do‐its. A third is the entertainment collection, composed primarily of mass‐marketed features and shorts. Each approach has its special problems in following the videocassette industry and finding reviews.
Steven Buchanan and Lauren Tuckerman
The purpose of this paper is to evidence and better understand adolescent information behaviours in disadvantaged and disengaged circumstances, and explore issues of social…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evidence and better understand adolescent information behaviours in disadvantaged and disengaged circumstances, and explore issues of social integration.
Design/methodology/approach
Interdisciplinary theoretical framework bringing together theories of information behaviour with theories of social capital. Mixed method design incorporating observation, interviews, and focus group conducted in areas of multiple deprivations. Participants’ young people aged 16-19 not in education, employment or training (NEET); and their support workers.
Findings
Heightened access and internalised behavioural barriers found beyond those common to the general adolescent population, the former influenced by technology and literacy issues, the latter by social structures and norms. There is evidence suggestive of deception, risk-taking, secrecy, and situational relevance in information behaviours, and a reliance on bonding social capital characteristically exclusive and inward facing. Low levels of literacy and self-efficacy are significant interrelated issues, with NEET youth dependent upon support workers when seeking and processing information, and demonstrating passive non-motivated information behaviours often abandoned.
Research limitations/implications
Highlights the need for further interdisciplinary research to explore complex relations between social and affective factors, and that seeks to both understand and influence information behaviours in disadvantaged and disengaged circumstances.
Practical implications
Remedial literacy education recommended as an immediate priority for public and third sector agencies.
Originality/value
First study of adolescent information behaviours in disadvantaged and disengaged circumstances. Novel interdisciplinary theoretical framework evidences and draws attention to understudied and enduring information poverty issues of significant societal concern, potentially consigning a significant proportion of the youth population to a stratified existence within an impoverished (small) information world. Sets a focused interdisciplinary research agenda.
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The purpose of this study is to investigate traditional freshmen value attitudes towards the secondary research process.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate traditional freshmen value attitudes towards the secondary research process.
Design/methodology/approach
The study utilized a single‐question qualitative survey, which asked the open‐ended two‐part question: “Do you like research? Why or why not?” The survey was administered to first semester freshmen communication classes where the students were able to write freely about their feelings towards the research process. These results were then contextualized through the lens of Krathwohl, Bloom, and Masia's Affective Domain.
Findings
Based on a content analysis of the written responses, three groups, which comprised eight themes, emerged. A substantial contingent of students (33 percent) described their motivations for conducting research as solely extrinsic in nature and maintained adverse emotions and attitudes towards the process, while a smaller number of students (16 percent) were both intrinsically and extrinsically driven to participate in the research process and reported no negative emotions. The majority of participants (49 percent), however, resided on what could be considered an intellectual borderland where the value of secondary research was entirely dependent on the specific topic of study.
Originality/value
The study adds to the well‐established macro research thread examining the relationship between information literacy and the affective domain and the less‐established micro research thread describing student emotional predispositions towards the academic library. As a result of this study, librarians will be better able not only to understand the attitudes freshmen students “carry” with them regarding the value of secondary research but also to consciously incorporate affective components into their work in order to craft more impactful library sessions.
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Mark Julien, Karen Somerville and Jennifer Brant
The purpose of this paper is to examine Indigenous perspectives of work-life enrichment and conflict and provides insights to better support Indigenous employees.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine Indigenous perspectives of work-life enrichment and conflict and provides insights to better support Indigenous employees.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews were conducted with 56 Indigenous people from six Canadian provinces. In total, 33 of the respondents were female and 23 were male. The interview responses were transcribed and entered in NVivo10. Thematic analysis was used.
Findings
The authors’ respondents struggled with feeling marginalized and felt frustrated that they could not engage in their cultural and family practices. The respondents spoke of putting family needs ahead of work and that many respondents paid a price for doing so.
Research limitations/implications
The results are not generalizable to all Indigenous peoples, however these results do fill a void in the literature.
Practical implications
Employers must consider revising policies including providing more supervisor support in the form of educating supervisors on various Indigenous cultural practices and examine ways of providing more flexibility with respect to cultural and family practices.
Social implications
Indigenous peoples have been marginalized since the advent of colonialism. This research addresses a gap in the literature by presenting how a group of Indigenous respondents frames work-life enrichment and conflict.
Originality/value
Very few studies have examined Indigenous perspectives on work-life enrichment and conflict using a qualitative research design. It also aligns with one of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s calls to action.
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Reports on data collected from an on‐going Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)‐funded study of information literacy and bibliographic instruction in Canadian…
Abstract
Reports on data collected from an on‐going Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)‐funded study of information literacy and bibliographic instruction in Canadian academic libraries. The goal of this three‐year study is to identify instructional outcomes and characterize successful instruction from the perspectives of the institutions providing that instruction (particularly the librarian‐ instructors), and the students receiving the instruction. Focuses on the current practices of librarian‐instructors on the front lines of bibliographic instruction in Canada, looking at their experiences, goals, instructional methods and challenges in providing information literacy services. Seeks to fill a gap in our understanding of the circumstances and challenges that face librarians at the beginning of the twenty‐first century, and the attitudes of those librarians towards bibliographic instruction and the changing role of information literacy in Canadian post‐secondary institutions.
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Sandra C. Jones, Simone Pettigrew, Nicole Biagioni, Mike Daube, Tanya Chikritzhs, Julia Stafford and Julien Tran
There is a growing body of research into the utilisation of social networking sites (SNS) by alcohol marketers, but less research into how young people utilise SNS to create their…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a growing body of research into the utilisation of social networking sites (SNS) by alcohol marketers, but less research into how young people utilise SNS to create their own meanings of, and interactions with, alcohol. The purpose of this study was to explore young adults’ perceptions of the nexus between alcohol and SNS.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 60 adults aged 18-21 years took part in an intensive data collection process over six months. All references to social media in the interviews, focus groups and written introspections were compiled and analysed.
Findings
Results showed social media use stimulates alcohol consumption and alcohol consumption stimulates social media use. Four main themes emerged: social engagement, identity, drinking culture and distancing. Participants reported being constantly exposed to, and often influenced by, images of their peers enjoying themselves while consuming alcohol, with little representation of negative outcomes.
Research limitations/implications
The relationship between SNS, social norms and drinking behaviours is complex; there is a need for further research into the dynamics of this relationship to inform social marketing interventions.
Originality/value
While there is a body of research into commercial references to alcohol on SNS, there is less research into the ways young people utilise SNS to create their own meanings of, and interactions with, alcohol. The consumer research that has been conducted to date has focused on quantifying references to alcohol and drinking behaviours, observing profiles or surveying users. This study addresses a key gap in the literature that is needed to inform social marketing interventions to reduce excessive alcohol consumption: when, why and how do young people post about alcohol.
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The study examines how late adolescents use the resources embedded in their social network to obtain the information and support they need to do their homework. A particular…
Abstract
Purpose
The study examines how late adolescents use the resources embedded in their social network to obtain the information and support they need to do their homework. A particular attention is paid to how social network sites (SNSs) are used and perceived by late adolescents for academic help seeking.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative study uses in-depth interviewing and critical incident technique. An egocentric approach to Social Network Analysis is also employed to examine the core social network of each participant.
Findings
Most adolescents had a solid personal social network but did not always fully take advantage of the resources embedded in it for schoolwork. Availability was the most important criteria for deciding who to approach. SNSs were often used to obtain the help they needed, although phone calls and in-person visits were considered more efficient in certain situations.
Research limitations/implications
This study draws on a small purposive sample that may limit generalization. This research contributes to our understanding of the resources late adolescents have access to within their core social network, the way they take advantage (or not) of these resources for schoolwork, and the role SNSs play in the process. Findings have implications for services that educators and school librarians should provide to support the educational needs of late adolescents.
Originality/value
This study contributes more generally to our understanding of late adolescents’ use of people as primary sources of information to complete school-related homework.
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Erin Klawitter and Eszter Hargittai
Purpose: Many Internet users search for health information but they struggle with assessing the quality of the information they find. By drawing on a multi-modal approach to data…
Abstract
Purpose: Many Internet users search for health information but they struggle with assessing the quality of the information they find. By drawing on a multi-modal approach to data collection, this study aims to understand further the nuanced cognitive processes that people utilize as they acquire and evaluate online health information.
Design: We used a mixed-methods approach that includes surveys, interviews, and observations of 76 diverse adults of all ages in the Chicago area completing various health information-seeking tasks.
Findings: Most participants begin their information-seeking process on search engines. We identified the most popular credibility-assessment strategies used on the search engine results’ pages (SERP) as well as on websites. We also explored how the process of executing such strategies reveals greater and lesser savvy among users.
Research Limitations: While the sample size and methods limit its generalizability, this study included a larger and more diverse group of participants than most observational work, which results in data about a wider range of behaviors than is typical of such research.
Social Implications: Our findings showed that most of our participants could use additional education regarding credibility assessment of online health information. Additionally, since a great deal of credibility assessment occurs on SERP, search companies bear a particular responsibility for ensuring the quality of the information their results highlight.
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Monica Draayer and Mark Julien
The purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges faced by a small Canadian winery in retaining its winemaker.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges faced by a small Canadian winery in retaining its winemaker.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi‐structured face‐to‐face interviews with both owners of the winery, as well as the general manager and hospitality manager.
Findings
A case study has been produced that will allow readers to apply their understanding of key organizational behaviour (e.g. job characteristics model, motivation theories) concepts and effective recruitment, retention and selection principles, to assist in trying to retain the key position of winemaker.
Practical implications
This case study will be useful for those involved in the wine business, as well as students of human resources and organizational behaviour. Retaining employees with unique skill sets provides employers with a competitive advantage and this case explores a variety of retention strategies.
Originality/value
Very few cases have been written involving the recruitment, retention and selection of winemakers and therefore this paper will be of interest to both academics and practitioners.